At noon on inauguration day my mother and I stood among the crowd on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building. Like the more than 1.5 million Americans gathered with us in the 20-degree Washington D.C. weather, we had traveled here to be a part of something larger than ourselves.

The people I met expressed excitement to be witnessing the inauguration of America's first African-American president.

I met a college senior named Rusty, who came all the way from the 80-degree weather of San Diego, Calif., despite the fact that he had voted for McCain. There was too much patriotic sentiment among the crowd for such political differences to get in the way.

In the predawn morning, while waiting to go through a security checkpoint, the crowd broke into singing "The National Anthem." They also sang "My Girl," except the crowd sang, "talkin' bout Obama," instead of the way the Temptations meant it to be sung.

From our vantage point, we could see the Capitol. American flags lined the street, waving in the wind and glistening with every beam of sunlight they caught. A hush ran over the crowd as we heard via large speakers that the chief justice and Obama were taking their place on the platform.

The crowd threw their hands and cheers into the frosty air once Obama finished saying, "so help me God," and "Hail to the Chief" began echoing through the streets.

The fanfare, and the celebration of this moment is something I will never forget. But what I remember most is the graceful blending of instruments playing John William's "Air and Simple Gifts" echoing through the streets. As I listened to the music I could feel the weight of the moment on me and I could not help but think of the Americans, both soldiers and civil rights activists who died for this day.

I found it fitting that the musicians were performing when the clock struck noon and Obama became President, for this was a calm and peaceful way at such a monumental moment in our nation's history to mark our nation's rise above all of that tragedy.,

Listening to "Air and Simple Gifts" I realized that the inauguration of Barack Obama is a part of something larger than myself, Obama, or any other American. It is a part of the age-long struggle of not just African-Americans, but of all people to be treated with the same civility and equality of anyone else.

At that moment, as bows met strings and fingers met keys, and the harmony of notes filled the vast blue sky all over Washington D.C., all over America, and all over the world; blacks cried with whites, gays smiled with straights, Christians hugged with Muslims, and this harmony of hope and achievement filled the country and the world.